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'The Lovely Bones'
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The Lovely Bones
dir. Peter Jackson
starring Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Saoirse Ronan
121 minutes,
USA, UK, New Zealand
I was not expecting The Lovely Bones to be a cheerful, enjoyable film. Set in 1973, it follows the murder of a 14 year old girl, Susie Salmon, and the effects that this has on those who knew her. Stuck in the ‘in-between’ Susie narrates the happenings on earth as well as voicing her anguish of being alone in the afterlife.
The best thing about this film are the acting performances. Saoirse Ronan is compelling as the teenage Susie, playing her with just the right mix of naivety and passion, and Susan Sarandon has a lot of fun as the chain-smoking, heavy drinking grandmother. Stanley Tucci is skin-crawlingly creepy as a paedophilic murderer, his bland but sinister presence onscreen enough to send shivers down anyone’s spine.
As with most book–to-film adaptations there are changes, most notably Susie’s afterlife. Instead of the pleasant high school setting from the book, Susie’s limbo now resembles something of Middle Earth, with sweeping shots of beautiful mountains and beaches. I half expected some elves to walk out of the forest. While the cinematography was visually stunning, I did feel that the film showed us far too much of the in-between and not enough of the happenings on earth. If Jackson had spent more time on character development and less time satisfying his CGI cravings then The Lovely Bones would have made much more of an emotional impact.
When the film allows itself to be dark it is brilliant, handling Susie’s murder with wonderful subtlety and providing some tense, on-the-edge-of-your-seat moments. Yet it seems determined not to be too depressing and as a result ends up a peculiar blend of horrifying violence and jarringly sentimental moments. The film remains hit and miss, never quite reaching its lofty aims. What could have been a beautifully haunting story about life and loss turns into a semi-sad tale that, while aesthetically pleasing, is ultimately empty.
6/10